


King of the Fishing Hole

by Ibijau



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ganondorf is a decent man, Gen, Gen Work, Link (Legend of Zelda) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, POV Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), Twinrovas are good moms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 03:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21501271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ibijau/pseuds/Ibijau
Summary: Ganondorf owns the Swamp Fishing Hole, a good way to stay near his aging mothers. It's quiet work.Until the moon starts falling, and an odd child comes visiting.
Relationships: Ganondorf & Link (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 328





	King of the Fishing Hole

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently, there were unused character models in the N64 version of Majora's Mask that had Ganondorf and Impa in charge of the Fishing Holes. I really feel like that was a wasted opportunity in the remake because can you imagine Link coming into this fun fishing place only to face his worst nightmare?  
> Well I could imagine that, so I wrote it.

"Can you believe after all this, Tingle refused to manage that fishing place?" Kotake asked, checking that her son was finishing his plate so she could refill it.

"A real shame," Koume agreed. "His father is furious, he says he doesn't have time to do this himself and he invested a lot in that thing. He's always off promoting the swamp, he doesn't have time for that."

Like the dutiful son he was, Ganondorf finished the soup he'd been given and lifted his plate to ask for more. He’d missed home cooked food.

"That Tingle boy won't turn out well," Kotake grumbled. "This nonsense about fairies! I pity his father. And now he'll have to find someone willing to live here and... Well, young people don't appreciate this place anymore, do they?"

She glanced at Ganondorf. He knew his mothers didn't like that he'd left for clock town. They'd made it plenty clear. But being a carpenter was a good living, in ten years he'd put some decent money aside, and there just hadn't been any jobs for a fella like him when he'd left at fifteen. The tourism center hadn't even opened yet at the time, and with a skin like his, nobody around really wanted to give him a job. Now, though...

"He's already found someone," Ganondorf grunted between two spoonfuls. "Last time he was in town."

"And how do you know that? You didn't go to that disreputable place, did you?"

It was tempting to reply that the Milk Bar, if Koume was thinking of it, was the poshest place in all of Clock Town. The only reason Ganondorf never went there was because he couldn't justify spending that sort of money on milk, even the special sort they sold there.

"I was doing repairs at the inn where he was staying and we chatted a bit," Ganondorf explained. "Told me about his son and all."

Funny how Tingle and him were the same age. Ganondorf would have given anything as a kid to have even a weirdo like that to play with when he was little. Dekus didn't often come in this part of the swamp, at least not those young enough to play with, and what few humans lived nearby didn’t want their kids near the odd witches and their weird son.

"Oh, some town bred kid for sure," Koume complained, in the tone of someone who'd had to repeatedly train several assistants, only for them to get sick of the swamp and go back home after a few weeks.

"No, this one will last," Ganondorf promised. "He was looking for a job in the swamp anyway, so he bought the deeds of that fishing place. Said he missed his moms and would like to work a little closer to home."

The two old women gasped.

"You silly boy, you didn't!"

Ganondorf laughed as he nodded, and his mothers came to hug him even as they complained that he should have warned them before making such a big decision.

They weren't so young, the two of them. Last time he'd visited, Kotake had complained non stop that she couldn't smell as well as she used to. Koume's back was killing her from riding her broom and manning the cruise boat. Ganondorf had never been told his mothers' age, but it was obvious they were getting very old and he worried about them. He'd have preferred for the two of them to come live in Clock Town with him but they'd never agree, so... This was the next best option.

Taking care of a fishing attraction wasn't exactly a dream come true. He lied to his mothers when they asked about his decision, but Ganondorf had loved his job as a carpenter. He enjoyed building things, putting his strength to good use, knowing others relied on him. It was a good, honest work. It paid well. Manning that fishing place wouldn't pay much, he'd been warned of that already, and nobody would depend on him except some stupid fish.

Ah, well. His mothers were worth it. They had sacrificed more than that for his sake, he didn't mind doing this for them.

Manning the Fishing Hole turned out to be harder work than Ganondorf had expected. That was an excellent thing. He liked to keep himself busy and there was always plenty to do. The fish needed to be fed and inspected for diseases and parasites, the water filters had to be cleaned frequently so nothing could crawl in from the swamp, the buildings needed maintenance. Then, when he still had free time, Ganondorf tried to improve the place. His shack had been pretty shabby looking when he arrived because it was meant just to keep tools while Tingle would have lived with his father. Ganondorf loved his mothers but he liked having a place of his own, so he turned it into a decent looking place with a bed in one corner and a little fireplace to warm up whatever his mothers had cooked for him. He also made and installed benches around the pound, officially so customers could be comfortable, but mostly for those times his mothers came to chat.

There weren't a lot of customers anyway. Not at first. In truth, Ganondorf had known to expect that. He loved the swamp for having grown there, but it wasn't the sort of place most people wanted to go for holidays, not when you could easily visit the Great Bay or the mountains. The first year, his only visitors were his mothers, or people who wanted to hire him as a carpenter.

But as the years passed, business picked up a bit. From spring to fall, people came on their time off. The fishing hole was a good half day from Clock Town, but for fishing aficionados that made it the closest place to enjoy their hobby. Ganondorf made efforts to have interesting fish for them to go after, especially after some asshole opened a rival fishing place in the Great Bay (he took his mothers there one spring: the gray haired woman who owned it was nice and had amazing tropical fish; Ganondorf hated her). Then in winter, Ganondorf took small carpenting jobs again to complement his income and go through the leaner months.

Things were going pretty well, in truth. There was discussion to open a little inn so tourists could stay longer if they so wished. There was an abandoned house deeper in the swamp that could be great for that once they handled the spider problem. Things were going great and Ganondorf was thinking of expanding his little fishing hole, perhaps by adding a second pond. He could raise fish that would be cooked at that inn they were going to have. Ganondorf didn't think of himself as ambitious, but he liked the idea of having his hand in several businesses and helping the swamp become greater than it had ever been.

Then came the Spring of the Falling Moon.

They hardly noticed it at first. It was just an odd feeling at night, like an itch in the back of their mind.

The swamp had always been a bit wild, that was the nature of the place. Deku babas thrived in less travelled path... But that spring, they popped up even around main roads. Ganondorf had to hack them off so they couldn't scare tourists, but they always came back.

"You folks should invest in some weed killer," Kasei told him on his monthly visit. "I almost lost a leg."

Knowing the young man, it might have been a joke. Ganondorf didn't laugh. That really was a risk, he'd heard stories of people losing themselves deep in the swamp only to be found half devoured. But that never happened here, were folks lived and kept roads. The soil wasn't right for babas, Kotake always told Ganondorf when he was little and got scared by those stories.

For sure those babas they had now didn't look very healthy, but it made them desperate to get a bite out of anything that passed to close.

For this to happen just as the tourist season was about to begin... 

"You are very grim looking today, old man," Kasei noted, before looking up at the sky. "Have you noticed it too?"

"Noticed what?"

"The moon."

Kasei pointed at the sky, his other hand clenched on his fishing road. Ganondorf didn't look up. He hadn't looked up in days, not since the deku babas had started appearing. It wasn't a conscious choice. He just knew if he looked, everything would change.

"That old astronomer in Clock Town says it's getting closer," Kasei whispered, as if saying that too loud might make it happen faster. "He told my father that if it keeps going like this, it'll fall down on the day of the festival."

This time, Ganondorf did look up. Dread seized him. There was no denying that the moon was bigger than it should have been. How could it be falling though? The moon couldn't fall. It was part of the sky, a kind smiling face that gave them light in the dark. It still smiled alright, but the kindness was gone.

"The festival, uh," Ganondorf muttered, unable to tear off his eyes from the moon. "That's what, a month from now?"

"Thirty five days exactly!" Kasei replied with enough joy that Ganondorf managed to look down at the grinning young man. "I don't even care if the world ends if I can marry Anju first!"

Kafei looked so sincerely excited about his coming marriage that Ganondorf couldn't help a smile. No, the moon couldn't fall when there was such happiness in the world. 

"Everything ready for your big day?" 

"Yes, I finally finished my mask. My friends asked to see it when I get back to town, but that's just an excuse to go out for some drinks." 

Ganondorf nodded. A few of his friends had gotten married back when he still worked in Clock Town, and they’d all enjoyed the excuse for a little fun.

"Guess I won't see you next month, then." 

"Nor the one after, we're going in the mountains for our honeymoon... If spring ever gets there," Kafei added, some concern breaking through his good humour. "Apparently they're dealing with a very harsh winter up there. The river is still frozen, I've heard. It's a very odd spring we're having." 

It certainly was. 

Neither of them looked up again, but Ganondorf couldn't get the moon out of his head. It couldn't fall, that was for sure. But it was bigger, there was no denying that either. Whatever was going on, Ganondorf didn't like it. 

Kafei was the last customer to come to the Fishing Hole. After him, no one managed to pass the deku babas, keese, and wolfos that haunted the swamp's entrance. 

Ganondorf had bigger problems though. There was something spreading in the swamp's waters, a pestilence that killed most creatures but allowed others to grow beyond reason. One octorok had already doubled in size in the span of a week and kept getting bigger. His mothers' home was impossible to reach except by flying on a broom, which Ganondorf had never managed and Kotake couldn't do anymore because it hurt her joints. Koume was her sister's only link to the outside world now, and for this at least, Ganondorf was glad they didn't have any customers. 

With little else to do, Ganondorf spent most of his time tinkering with the filters on the pipes that linked his pond's water to the rest of the swamp, hoping it would be enough to protect his fish as the poison continued spreading. They were just fish, but they depended on him and if he didn't protect them, who would? 

And above them, the moon kept coming closer. Perhaps it really would fall, like Kafei had said. Ganondorf wished he could have grabbed his mothers and his fish and run somewhere safe, but it didn't feel like such a place existed anymore. Not in a world with poison in the water, monsters on the road and falling moons. 

The boy came in three days before the carnival of time, when the moon hung low in the sky and silence reigned in the swamp.

The first thing that struck Ganondorf was the child's clothes, a bright green that reminded him of Tingle's ridiculous suit. The second thing he noticed was the fairy flying at his side, something Tingle could have killed for. 

The third thing Ganondorf saw was the very sharp sword hanging at the kid's belt. That didn't look like it belonged to a boy that age. 

Still, a customer was a customer. Ganondorf put down the piece of wood he'd been whittling into a duck for Koume's birthday, and stepped out of the shadow of his shack to greet the boy. 

"Welcome to the Swamp Fishing Hole," he said. "The finest spot of fun you can have in the entire swamp, so long as you like fishing!" 

The boy's reaction to seeing him was extreme to say the least. That kid froze, his eyes opening wide as if he'd seen a ghost. Ganondorf just smiled a little wider. He had that effect on people sometimes. It came from being a lot taller and broader than most, with a skin tone that wasn't very common since the end of the Ikana wars. He'd learned not to mind. 

"It's fifty rupee for a full day of fishing, sir," Ganondorf explained, careful to keep his voice low so as not to spook the kid even more. "Thirty if you have your own rod."

The kid just stared at him as if Ganondorf had personally murdered his father. His fairy companion, thankfully, wasn't as eerily quiet. 

"We have some fishing passes actually," she announced in a shrill voice. "That means we don't need to pay for anything, right?" 

"That's right, ma’am. Are you both going to fish?" 

The fairy only laughed, which was a relief. Ganondorf had some smaller rods for the occasional deku scrub, but nothing tiny enough for a fairy. 

"Well, come and choose a rod, sir," Ganondorf said with an inviting gesture toward his shack. 

The boy didn't move. He was starting to spook him a big with those big blue eyes burning in anger. Maybe he came from the area near Ikana Canyon. The people there sometimes still held the old grudges. Still, it was sad to see a kid that age already this prejudiced. 

"You do as you like, sir," Ganondorf sighed. "Your passes can't be traded for money, so if you're not going to fish I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave." 

That got through to the boy. He glanced at the pond with longing, then looked again at Ganondorf with barely contained disgust as he handed him one fishing pass. 

"Thank you, sir. Now if you could come inside and pick your rod..." 

The boy violently shook his head, then made some odd motions with his hands. 

"You pick us a rod," the fairy explained. "He can fish with anything." 

A rather odd demand. Usually fishing fans preferred to choose everything themselves, some down to the type of line used. Maybe the kid had just won a pass in the city and decided to use it to check what that would be like. Strange though to come all this way from Clock Town and fight monsters just to try fishing. Weird kid. 

Ganondorf went inside and, after some consideration, grabbed a good, solid multi-purpose rod with a basic lure. It should work well enough for a beginner. When he gave it to the kid, he inspected the rod carefully before a tiny smile appeared on his face. It made the boy look a little younger, as did the spring in his step as he walked toward the water. 

Ganondorf went to sit on a bench before his shack and started whittling again. He made sure to keep a close eye on the boy. Beginners always needed a hand with something, and that was part of the job too. But quite surprisingly, the kid was doing well for himself. He didn't make a mess of his line. He had no trouble sticking a worm on his hook, and there was something practiced in the way he cast his line. The most impressive though was his patience. 

It wasn't the first time Ganondorf had a kid in there, after all. Fishing could be a fun family activity and fathers in particular liked to take their kids fishing as a way of bounding. Usually children acted in one of two ways: the young ones started excited and running around which scared the fish, then got bored when they realised how much waiting was involved; older ones often right out refused to touch their rod and went to try their chance at the nearby shooting gallery. This kid though. This kid cast his line, sat down, and stared at his floater as if time were of no consequence to him. 

When at last the kid got a bite, he didn't panic nor explode with joy as most beginners did. He very calmly stood up, and started reeling in his catch. A nice, big loach from what Ganondorf could see, and the kid slowly but efficiently brought it to land. Then the boy smiled, a big toothy grin. 

Ganondorf stood up, ready to have to explain how to unhook the fish... But the boy was faster than him, gently checking the animal hadn't been wounded by the hook before freeing it and putting it back in the pound. 

After seeing that, Ganondorf stopped paying the boy too much attention. That kid was young, sure, but he clearly knew what he was doing. That meant Ganondorf was free to take care of his daily routine. He checked on his filters, cleaned around his shack. The fish had already been fed a couple hours before the boy arrived so that wasn't needed for a good while.

While he worked, Ganondorf saw the kid was still patiently fishing. He caught another loach, a groovy carp, and then somehow, with that barely adequate rod and shitty lure, the boy caught a Colossal Castfish. 

That was stunning enough that when he noticed what was going on, Ganondorf had to abandon his work for a bit. Quietly, so as not to disturb his customer, he made his way to the boy who was struggling to unhook his catch. 

"That's nicely done there," Ganondorf said with open admiration. 

The boy yelped. He let go of his fish to grab his sword, almost slashing open Ganondorf's leg. 

"I'll need you to put that thing away," he ordered the boy, trying to keep his voice steady. "I'm sorry if I startled you, but that's an overreaction, sir." 

The boy didn't obey right away, keeping his sword pointed at Ganondorf's chest in spite of the way his hands trembled. It took his fairy whispering in his ear for the kid to finally sheath his weapon, and even then he kept one hand firmly on the handle. 

"That was rude to spook him like that!" the fairy complained. 

"It's pretty rude to draw your sword on someone unarmed too," Ganondorf retorted. "I'll let it slide for this time, but if I see you using that again, I'll have to ask you to leave. Understood, sir?" 

Very slowly, the boy nodded, still gripping his sword. There was a fear in his eyes that didn’t belong in a kid this young. He couldn’t be more than twelve, what had happened to this boy to scare him that badly? Ganondorf was almost tempted to ask, because he wasn’t sure anymore this was about him looking Ikanan. 

He was distracted from that thought by the desperate struggles of the catfish, still attached to the hook and choking in the open air. Both Ganondorf and the boy noticed its distress at the same time, but Ganondorf was quicker to unhook it and gently put it back into the pond. He would have to keep a close eye on that poor fish in the coming days. Good thing there were so few customers lately. 

"That was a good catch," Ganondorf said, still looking at the fish slowly swimming away. "You're not a beginner, are you?" 

He turned to smile at the boy, who somehow looked even more scared of him now. 

"We're open for all levels, don't worry," Ganondorf laughed. "I just didn't expect someone so young to be this good. I've seen seasoned fishermen fail to ever get my little catfish buddy, so I'm impressed a little kid like you could do it." 

"He's not just a kid," the fairy protested. 

"Well he's not a grown man either," Ganondorf retorted, and for some reason that made the boy flinch. Maybe he was sensitive about his age then, or maybe he was older than he looked. "That was rude, sorry, sir. And sorry for bothering you too, just wanted to let you know I was impressed by your skill." 

The boy tilted his head for a moment, lips pinched tight, then brought his left hand to his chin and quickly brought it down again. 

"He says thanks," the fairy translated. 

It suddenly occurred to Ganondorf that so far, the boy hadn't said a single word. If he was mute, that could explain why he was so on edge. There were plenty of nasty people in the world who wouldn't feel a pang of regret at taking advantage of a kid like that. It would explain also why he'd been so quick to draw his sword. If he couldn't shout for help, he'd have learned to defend himself on his own. Poor kid. Ganondorf knew about being different. 

After that, he left the boy alone for the rest of the day. That kid deserved the same quiet and respect he'd have given any other customer, didn't he? And he sure looked like he needed a little calm. 

With little else to do, Ganondorf went back to the present for his mother. It was easy, relaxing work, though the occasional tremors meant he had to be careful not to nick himself. Odd to have so many earthquakes. Kotake said it might have been the moon, doing to the earth what it also did to the ocean, but Ganondorf didn't want to believe that was possible. He didn't want to think about the moon at all, if he were honest. He tried to avoid looking at it, but it was so low and so big now that he'd often catch a glimpse of it even when he didn't mean to. 

Only two more days until the carnival of time, and until perhaps the end of the world. 

"We won't let it fall," a shrill voice said next to him. 

Ganondorf startled and looked down from the sky to discover that while he gazed at that accursed moon, night had fallen. He found the boy standing next to him with that fairy of his floating around. The kid still looked wary of him, but there was a trace of concern too as he started moving his hands

"We won't let the world end," the fairy translated. "We know how to stop it." 

Ganondorf stared at the boy, unsure how to react to that. At any other time, he might have laughed at the thought of a boy barely reaching his waist pretending to be a hero. That day though, with the moon so low in the sky, with monsters all over his swamp, with the tiredness and resolution in that kid's eyes... Today, Ganondorf felt inclined to believe the impossible, if only because the only other option was despair. 

"If you do, I'll let you fish here for free until the end of your life," he promised the boy. "We sure need a hero around here." 

The boy squinted, as if that weren't the answer he'd expected. 

"I'd offer more to help, but that's really all I can do," Ganondorf said. "I'm just a man who raises fish."

The boy frowned but nodded. His hands moved again. 

"He says you seem like a good man," the fairy explained. "He says don't worry, we'll save the world and keep you and your moms safe." 

"Thanks for that," Ganondorf replied, wondering when he had mentioned his mothers. Or did the boy go to the tourist center before coming here? Koume wass the sort to gush about her son to anyone who will listen. 

The kid nodded again, before handing Ganondorf the rod he'd rented for the day. He seemed a little more relaxed, the lines around his eyes a little less hard. 

"You have a place to stay the night?" Ganondorf asked, to which the boy answered by shaking his head. "It's dangerous out there. I can let you have my bed if you need, the swamp is dangerous in the dark." 

"Thanks but we have a place we need to go," the fairy explained, and again the boy nodded, taking a notebook from his pocket to check something. 

And with that, the boy and his fairy left the Fishing Hole. After they had gone, Ganondorf found himself staring again at the moon and thinking of that kid. It seemed odd for the entire damn moon to be falling, odder still for anyone to think they might stop it from doing so. And yet, for some reason, Ganondorf couldn't help but trust that weird child when he said he'd do that. 

A fool's hope perhaps, but at this point that was all anyone had. 


End file.
